-- our yearly income tax. >> narrator: rodriguez tells them they can avoid paying taxes on the money by rolling it over into his mdn financial, and he gives mejia this flyer, claiming they can "earn a big, fat rate guaranteed." >> this is the flyer that he gave my husband, and it had the different investment plans depending on the amount of money. we were going to be investing $40,000. so in turn, we were going to be receiving in interest, 22%, which amounted to $750 a month. >> narrator: the mejias sign a contract for six months of payments. >> you know, why not? i mean, to receive a check of $750 a month just by having the $40,000 -- it was better than putting it into a bank. >> narrator: about 10 times better than putting it in the bank. rodriguez is offering rates of return as high as 50%. but trusting investors have no idea how improbable rodriguez's offer really is. >> sometimes i would think, you know, "how does he do this?" but we say, "well, maybe he's investing in the stock market or in some other, you know, institutions that we don't know of and maybe that's how he's getti